He said this during an interview with the press held at Rumah Jaya Anak Ambak, Ulu Sebungan, Sebauh near here yesterday.

The statement was given in reply to a question raised by the press pertaining to the numerous complaints received from the teachers and parents alike about the delay of the construction of the Teachers Housing Complex here, the first of its kind in the state of Sarawak.

About 10,000 units of such houses for the teachers, costing RM1.3 billion, being implemented in stages throughout the country was supposed to commence in February 1998 and expected to be completed in February 2002.

However, due to the recent finacial crisis which badly hit the country, the construction of the project was delayed, adding that until March this year the phyisical progress of the project is three per cent, involving piling and foundation works only.

Upon receiving numerous complaints from the teachers concerned, Dato Sri once again reiterated that the Education Ministry should monitor the progress of the project by ensuring that it was on schedule.

During his speech that night Dato' Sri urged the Federal Government to provide more funds for Niah and Suai rural development projects so that more people would benefit from it.

To a question of whether any actions pertaining to the illegal encroachment by both the local and foriegn  deep-sea fishing vessels along restricted zone in the Sarawak waters had been taken or not, Dato' Sri Tiong, who also claimed that he was aware of the problem through numerous complaints from the small-scale fishermen said that so far no actions had been taken.

However, he said that he would bring up the matter to the Parliament for discussion. "I'm very concerned of this illegal activities as it will not only affect the business of small-scale fishermen but at the same time damaging the sea bed and the corals which provide habitat for the fish and other marine life" Tiong said.

He added that in no time the fish production in the affected area would be tremendously depleted if such activities continued to be  carried out by these irresponsible people who only did it out of personal interest. 

Commenting on the rural development projects in Bintulu constituency, Dato' Sri said that in many instances some headmen and chairmen of the  Village Security and Development Committee (AJKK) failed to carry out their responsibilities honestly by pocketing part and partial of the money allocated for certain projects in their respective villages. 

Citing example, Dato' Sri Tiong said some of these irresponsible leaders who received RM10,000 cash allocated for certain projects only released half the amount to the villagers while keeping the other half. In another tactic, they quoted a big amount of funds required for the projects, while in actual fact it costs just a few thousand ringgit. In this way, he said they also collect the rest for themselves.

As such, he called upon the district officer and all those who were involved in the distribution of funds for the rural developments to strictly monitor their movements so that the funds would not only be wasted but at the same time would benefit villagers at large. 

The Minister of Housing, Datuk Celestine Ujang Anak Jilan, who also spoke during the occassion commended Dato' Sri Tiong for his great concern towards the welfare of the people in Bintulu.

Citing example, Datuk Ujang said that even before Dato' Sri Tiong was elected as the parliamentarian for Bintulu constituency he contributed more than RM3 million for the rural projects in Bintulu area. "This is indeed a very noble deed which not many people, including myself, could no do" Ujang added.

Another good thing about Dato' Sri, Ujang said was that whatever he contributed to the people he never highlighted it for publicity purposes but instead keeping it to himself. " We only found out from the benficiaries" Ujang added. 

As such Datuk Ujang said that there was no reason why such a person who has high regard for the welfare of the people should not be re-elected again in any future election to be held...END.